During my brief days in Tvarditsa this past month, we’ve managed to write 3 grant applications. The first, submitted through an NGO resource center, is for a SOROS-Moldova grant to establish a children’s theatre at the local kindergartens. A group of teachers and administrators from the two kindergartens wrote an impressive application for assistance in purchasing necessary materials for an educational theatre. We learned last week that the grant application passed the first level of regional scrutiny, and now it is being sent to the national committee for consideration. Keep your fingers crossed for them!
Another grant application we are just finishing up is for a garbage truck. Not very glamorous, but let me tell you, very useful! The village has no organized means to collect or dispose of municipal waste, and unfortunately it shows. The Primaria (Mayor’s office) is re-working the budget to purchase the requisite standard trash containers, and if the grant is awarded for the garbage truck, we can hope to begin some clean-up efforts along streets, parks and streams.
The third grant we wrote is the one I just learned was approved. Peace Corps manages some USAID funds every year via the Small Project Assistance (SPA) program. Grants are for no more than $3000 and have very specific guidelines. The Tvarditsa Local Council of Children and Youth, also known as the “Children’s Primaria”, wrote a grant application to help support a series of Peer Trainings.
The project is very exciting. Members of the Children’s Primaria, over the past four years, have been attending various trainings, workshops, and summer camps sponsored by such organizations as European Youth Exchange-Moldova, UNICEF, Peace Corps, and others. Some of the kids have begun conducting similar trainings for their friends and classmates, such as the GLOW Day seminar I helped a couple of “alumni” of the national camp conduct in May. They would like to expand these opportunities to a wider audience, specifically to youth in under-served villages. For example, many small communities are not aware of the trainings, seminars and camps conducted regularly in Chisinau and other large-population centers in Moldova. Even if they are informed about them, the children and/or their parents may be afraid to attend, or their parents too nervous to send them. And in particular for the minority Russian-speakers, announcements and invitations in Romanian may only further alienate this disconnected population. So, the Tvarditsa Children’s Primaria decided to do something about it.
The project plan begins with identifying 5 other Russian-speaking villages to invite, along with Tvarditsa youth, to a Peer Training series where children will be taught on various topics as well as be taught how to be Peer Trainers. Seminar topics will include Life Skills (such as conflict resolution and teamwork), Leadership, and Children’s Rights and Responsibilities. Over the course of 7 months, the project hopes to train as many as 300 young people. The kids were awarded a small grant to subsidize transportation to and from Tvarditsa, provide one meal during each of the trainings here, and to purchase some supplies for the trainings. The community contribution is unusually significant (over 60% of the budget), as the visiting youth will stay with “host families” here in Tvarditsa and thus the largest expenses of food and lodging will be donated by members of the Children’s Primaria and their families.
Winning the grant is a great boost for the kids here, and for me too. I leave for vacation on Thursday (10 days with Pierre in Germany!), and it is exciting to know that I will return at the beginning of August with a lot of work ahead of me on a project I feel really good about. And once again, the words of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers ring true. It’s taken me an entire year to get settled in, adapted, and integrated into my community. My work will really begin along with the start of my second year as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Anka in Kyiv 